World of Warships [Wargaming.net]

[Psyco Diver]

I refuse to do anymore gift ship missions anymore, WG has made them infuriatingly annoying. On paper they seem reasonable enough but in practice they are a pain to complete. The Duke of York mission killed it for me

[Renegade334]

The Indianapolis isn't, from what I read, anything to write home about (it's basically a better T7 Pensacola with radar...and it's squishy AF), but truth be told I haven't got anything better to do nowadays. The T6 Cleveland proved to me that I need a captain with IFHE (on top of CE) in order for it to be enjoyable and I haven't got a CL-dedicated one to spare ATM (I still play the DM, so I can't transfer that one). All other ships (Neptune, Algérie, Hipper) feel like rehashes of their predecessors and don't motivate me much, so...yeah, those missions help me stave off boredom.

That...and grinding for FXP (which I'm tentatively saving for the Nelson) tends to wear me out in the long term.

[Psyco Diver]

The Nelson is a good pick, but she feels meh to me even though I do pretty decent in here. I kinda thought she would be a Colorado/Nagato hybrid but she is the opposite. The Nelson feels sluggish and she is soft and easily citadeled. That super heal is hilarious though and her AP is by far the best BB AP I've found for deleting cruisers and destroyers, they don't over pen nearly as much as the other Big 7. I like her, I don't think she is all that OP in my opinion but she is fun

I'm taking a break from grinding lines and I'm focusing on trying to get my South Carolina and Wyoming over 200 games, I'm enjoying it allot too, lots of seal clubbers that I'm getting to wreck

[Psyco Diver]

Well the Konig Albert is back up for sale, so much for my grind to 200 for my low tier ships but it is a good time to start running my Vampire and Clemson again

[Renegade334]

Well, I don't know what happened but it feels like my gameplay has seen a significant decrease in quality lately, judging by the amount of losses I'm suffering...which is rather surprising (and frustratingly so) given that I've had more krakens in the past few months than ever before (I almost had one in my Zao yesterday, but I was killstolen at the last second). I guess this calls for another hiatus, but I'll wait until my premium time (33 days) dwindles to explore other sources of entertainment, such as the upcoming Hitman 2 and/or Assassin's Creed: Odyssey.

Anyway...

- Alternate camo for US ships is meh. It just turns everything to shades of gray, and there are only a couple of maps where the color remap plays to your advantage (the arctic environments, where the ocean is really dark and the overall color palette is less saturated and more gray-oriented) as the darker superstructures would blend in better with the water. Aside from a few ships (Missouri and Iowa [with their Measure 32 Design 22D camo] and maybe Alabama), the transformation doesn't look that good (my Arizona was turned into a shiny, silvery ship that screams "either notice me or get so blinded by my sheen you can't see me"). At least Yamamoto Isoroku's alternate paint setting managed to make some IJN ships look really good (Yamato and Zao, to cite just two).

- Radar will be nerfed, according to some streamers...or at least the new Tier X legendary upgrades will be. Supertesting!Grozovoi apparently had its radar exchanged for heal, but I haven't followed that topic for a while.

- Monarch just frustrates me. At least KGV rewarded me every once in a while, but this ship, in stock state, is a pain to play. With only 16.5km gun range (no FCS upgrade yet), I have to get uncomfortably close to the enemy to actually start scoring points and that makes me a piñata for cruisers that can match or exceed my stats (not to mention BBs - even German BBs have longer reach than I do!). And that forecastle is just a massive XP farm for my opponents.

- WG's new missions are becoming annoying. They were originally straightforward and reasonably easy to complete (unless, for example, you had to use a CV, which I never play), but now they have started to stack prerequisites to create teeth-gnashing objectives such as "Kill two enemies in a match where you win and survive". It should be easy peasy for good players, but when you realize everyone on your team is killstealing each other for the sake of completing that same mission, you start to feel the beginnings of a headache, because you know a pattern is emerging and it will stick for some time.

- Screw this new Arsenal system. Those who really benefit from it are Clan members. Solos like me (who have no interest in joining a Clan in the first place) are kinda locked out/disadvantaged. Salem (a Des Moines with a nerfed Tier X perma-camo and an Atlanta-type radar), Flint, Black and Stalingrad will be unlockable through the said Arsenal.

- I don't know why but I just couldn't make my Alabama work last night...it was just defeat after defeat. Got a couple of first places, but that is NO consolation in the end. OTOH, Zao and Yamato seemed to reward me more generously.

- Apparently the devs confirmed in a post-KotS Q&A session that the Missouri is permanently gone because it was OP and overperformed as a whole. The only way for it to come back was to be rebalanced, but that, in turn, would cause some tricky player compensation issues (refunds, etc). Maybe they'll replace it with a New Jersey?

- Also, the devs finally admitted they're STILL NOT happy with the Graf Zeppelin and will rebalance it again during the CV rework. About bloody time, I now frequently see T10 Des Moines getting insta-killed by AP bombers from the GZ. Not cool.

[Psyco Diver]

Made a interesting battle cruiser concept, let me know what you think

https://forum.worldofwarships.com/to...battlecruiser/

[Renegade334]

Cannot access thread, "you don't have permission to view this content". Maybe because it's on NA, and I'm a EU user?

That said:
- Dev blog unveiled a series of new ships including a Mackensen-class battlecruiser premium called the Prinz Eitel Friedrich (the building of the Mackensen would spur the British on to create the Admiral class and its only member, the HMS Hood).
- Next tech line slated for introduction (setting aside the soon-to-be-completed alternate IJN DD line) appears to be British DDs. Dev blog showed Tier 5, 6 and 6 RN DDs.
- Stupid WG is at it again: due to the "150 main gun hits + victory" Indianapolis mission, there's a deluge of Minotaurs, Des Moines, Akizukis and Atlantas on the server this weekend. I hate how the playerbase is reacting to these missions.
- Stupid WG is apparently vying for Alabamagate 2.0: the much-requested USS Alaska (one of the most plebiscited ships on the Reddit page) is, from the looks of it, an Arsenal exclusive, meaning that unless you play Ranked or Clan battles and farm steel and coal, solos like me won't be able to get it.
- I purchased the USS Independence this Friday for the "30 plane kills" Indianapolis mission and in order to see whether there's really nothing for me in there. I can now conclude: I am absolute pants at CV gameplay and I'll be staying a hundred yards away from the flattops at all times...unless it's to bombard them with shells and torpedoes, of course.
- Once again used my credit income to max out and outfit several ships (modules I usually skip such as propulsion upgrades, etc). I feel like the credits I earn are invariably cursed to never stay in my wallet for long.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

You supposedly will be able to get Steel and Coal from missions, but IMO you should just be able to earn it for playing matches and opening your daily containers, like how Oil currently works. The idea that I have to get super lucky with Supercontainers or join a huge clan is stupid. I like my for-fun clan that only has 9 members, but we're not all on at the same times.

They need to put the Missouri back in the game through the Arsenal. The reason they took it out was the economic benefits, not because it was "overpowered". That's a line of corporate bullshit because if being OP was an actual issue, the Arsenal would not contain the Flint, the Black, OR the Stalingrad. All of which most people and CCs consider to be overpowered in their current states, though you admittedly don't see them often at the moment due to the difficulty in obtaining them (which will certainly change once the bigger clans' members start getting the Steel to buy them in the Arsenal).

I'm especially pissed about it still because the devs said when the Missouri came out it would always be available. I had been taking a break from the game when they announced it was getting pulled out and I didn't have enough exp saved up to get it in time, though naturally I got enough right after it was pulled. I like the Musashi a lot (its OP at T9 and a million times better than the Izumo), but I wanted the Missouri as well because I wanted to try a different playstyle without grinding through the shitty mid-tier USN BBs. I enjoyed the grind through the IJN BBs other than the Izumo, but the New Mexico and Colorado (Colorado needs a slight speed buff or something) look so painful to play that it's making me skip the line entirely, which is unfortunate because I really, REALLY want to play the Iowa and Montana.


Bitching aside, I'm looking forward to the Akizuki line being finished. They need to increase the top speed of the last 2 ship to at least 36 knots, like their original plans were drawn up to be. The entire point of the T9 Kitakaze and T10 Harugumo (the T10 having one more turret and a sextuple torpedo launcher) were that they were faster than the Akizuki, which seriously lacked in speed. Making them the exact same speed as the Akizuki is stupid and lacks actual progression. If they go in the game as-is, it's going to feel like going from the Mogami to the Ibuki all over again (Ibuki actually felt like a downgrade from the Mogami to me, heal nonwithstanding).

[Renegade334]

Originally Posted by Spectacular_Insanity

You supposedly will be able to get Steel and Coal from missions, but IMO you should just be able to earn it for playing matches and opening your daily containers, like how Oil currently works. The idea that I have to get super lucky with Supercontainers or join a huge clan is stupid. I like my for-fun clan that only has 9 members, but we're not all on at the same times.

Yeah, I read about that, but I hate leaving my resource income to RNG (I'm already annoyed when my daily containers fail to yield a Campaign collectible). If I were to solely rely on container drops and the occasional mission, I don't think I'll get enough coal and steel to fulfill the prerequisite before a loooong time (once my premium time runs out, I expect to go back to hibernation for a while, BTW). At least with FXP I could farm it everyday just by playing casually. And I thoroughly dislike it when a portion of the game is locked behind a "must-play-with-a-buddy" mode (I was already incensed in Battlefield 3, when I realized some of the guns could only be unlocked by playing the co-op missions).

I enjoyed the grind through the IJN BBs other than the Izumo, but the New Mexico and Colorado (Colorado needs a slight speed buff or something) look so painful to play that it's making me skip the line entirely, which is unfortunate because I really, REALLY want to play the Iowa and Montana.

Yes, the Standard classes constitute a "slog" phase that unfortunately tends to discourage USN players gunning for the high-tiers. Colorado was particularly painful for me as it felt like I was being outclassed by every other BB I met (especially in terms of speed and mobility) and I wasn't seeing much novelty compared to the New Mexico (OTOH, the other T7 ships like the Gneisenau and Nagato were getting a more "modern" feel). Once you get to the North Carolina, however, things become MUCH more enjoyable...though the mechanics change, too (with the adoption of the US "all or nothing" armor scheme that utterly prohibits the exposure of your broadside).

The Iowa will initially feel like a downgrade to the NC. It's less agile (larger turn radius) but fleeter-footed...and, like all other T9 BBs, it's a bigger (and thus easier to hit) and more ponderous target that will command more forward-thinking when it comes to one's evolution through the map. But the longer-barreled rifles will rake in citadel hits by the bushel (cruisers will weep at you). Montana is just fantastic and became particularly OP when its citadel was lowered. The only downside I see to this ship is that at long range, plunging fire on CVs and BBs will more often than not yield shatters rather than penetrations, which is due to deck armor thickness and the limitations of 406mm ballistics.

[demonix]

Originally Posted by Renegade334

Cannot access thread, "you don't have permission to view this content". Maybe because it's on NA, and I'm a EU user?

It's because the section in question is locked down to logged in users and as such would require a wargaming NA account (which can easily be created since EU and NA have no links, so you can use the same e-mail address for a wargaming NA account).

[Psyco Diver]

Eh I hate new lines, at least I can play low tier for a while till the USN CL line blows over

[Renegade334]

I'm not too enthused by the new CL line either, and I feel a bit too tired to consider grinding a new line from the bottom up. I'm holding out on the Seattle for the moment; I've watched Notser's gameplay video on it and I'm not sure it's a ship I want to invest time in right now. Oh, BTW, I've been killed by a Nueve de Julio (Brooklyn class, transferred to Argentine Navy post-WWII) today - looks like supertesting is moving on and we might see this new nation soon (Pan-American).

I know I have been complaining a lot lately (especially since my posts are often very verbose and I'm practically posting my progress logs ) but, hey, if I didn't care about the game and had no intention of moving further ahead, I wouldn't be doing this in the first place. It's just my inner grouch talking.

So...23 days until premium runs out and I'm thinking about using my FXP. The Nelson sort of lost its appeal in my eyes over time and I'm pondering about using my points to jump ahead before the aforementioned date comes to pass, whereupon my XP output will drop and I will eventually return to hibernation for another unspecified amount of time (I might even become eligible for WG's "come back, we have a gift premium ship waiting for you in port" program XD).

As I speak, there are a couple of candidates (only one will be chosen, though) up for fast-tracking:

• Akizuki
• Minotaur
• Benson

Still weighing my options.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

I'm personally an Akizuki/Yamato main, and I highly recommend the Akizuki, but with some caveats:

1) You need to be aggressive. Akizuki relies on bullying other DDs in caps (it can even bully T10's in some circumstances), either forcing them out or killing them, but it is a high-risk high-reward affair depending on their backup, or how good you are at predicting torps. I say "predicting" because at close range Akizuki is not nimble enough to dodge torps unless you're amply prepared. Akizuki also needs to stay mobile because it's speed and acceleration is rather poor and it has trouble chasing down enemies. If you get a chance to sit in cover and spam, take it, but watch out for torps. Akizuki can easily get torped, even more so than most DDs, when sitting in smoke.

2) You need either a 10 or 14 pt captain if you want to be effective right away, since IFHE and Concealment are both mandatory picks. Starting with a 14pt one is ideal, but a 10 pt captain will do in a pinch. Just be aware you'll be struggling either in gun damage or spotting departments if you start with a 10 point-er. Point investment will also cause some hard choices since you will want everything, but can't take everything, obviously.

3) The current meta is not friendly to DDs in general due to radar being EVERYWHERE, but Akizuki is doing okay because of its health pool. That does mean, however, that Survivability Expert is also a necessity since Akizuki has no heals.

4) Watch out for CVs. You are big and slow, and CVs will love to cross-drop torps on you if they get the chance. You don't have DFAA, so watch out.

My current captain build (I have a 16 pt captain on my Akizuki):

Preventative Maintenance (1) -> Last Stand (2) -> Survivability Expert (3) -> IFHE (4) -> Concealment Expert (4) -> Adrenaline Rush (2)

Next skills I plan on taking is Basic Firing Training (3), though you could also do Superintendent (3) or Demolition Expert (3) instead, depending on your preferences. Most people would do DE, I think, though I make up the differences with flags instead, and use BFT to not only increase the Akizuki's already prodigious rate of fire, but also to bolster its decent (though not great) AA.

My upgrades are the standard assortment:
Main Armaments Mod 1
Propulsion Mod 1
Aiming Systems 1 (If you face lots of CVs or queue with a CV, AA Guns Mod 2 isn't a bad idea)
Propulsion Mod 2 (helps a lot with Ducky's terrible acceleration)
Concealment System Mod 1


I run my Harekaze on a similar build, but I don't play as aggressively (I play it like it's a Kagero that doesn't have shit guns). I play Akizuki when I'm tired of running away from other DDs.


I don't have enough experience in the RN CL line or the USN DD line to have an opinion one way or the other about the Minotaur or Benson, but most people agree that they are good ships. I personally plan on getting the Meme-o-taur one day, though I'm on the Seattle right now and getting closer to the Worcester (about 200k exp away). I notice most people don't like the Seattle, but I personally think it's fine. It's certainly more fun than the Ibuki (which I still find very underwhelming).

[Renegade334]

I'm leaning towards the Akizuki myself, though it's fairly obvious this rather unconventional IJN DD (it was built as an AA-dedicated defense unit, after all) has some big downsides - mobility being the chiefest of them all. Getting IFHE will be a bit annoying, as I tend to prioritize CE over all other 4pt skills but I guess that's what you need to succeed. I rather liked the Mahan and gunboat gameplay - I know the risks inherent to that type of ship and the brutality of knife fights within a cap.

I don't seem to have much luck with 152mm nowadays, which is why I'm withholding progress on both my Neptune and Cleveland. I just don't seem to deal much damage unless the poor bastard decided to close the distance and get within 12km of me, at which point my flatter shell trajectories work better for me (beyond that mark, they have the all leisure they need to avoid my dropping floaters). Not to mention, I've dev-struck enough Minotaurs and Neptunes lately, fueling my desire for something more...resilient.

In other news, I'm 19/21 on the Indianapolis marathon (2 left until the minimum unlock mark). I think it's the first time I ever followed a marathon this closely (either I didn't have the required tier, the reward was not interesting or the objectives were rather unreasonable) and completed all missions so far on day 1. Most of them are rather easy except for those that have stacked prerequisites such as "win a mission AND survive AND be in the top three". Devising the latter seems to be WG's newest hobby and it appears to drive a lot of players crazy on Reddit.

Oh, if you haven't caught the news already, we're going to get a Jean Bart premium. And WG has invented a new consumable for it: the gun reload booster (similar to TRB, will allow quicker main gun reload for a small amount of time).

[Psyco Diver]

I've been using my ARP Kongos to power grind my Amagi captain, first win bonus with XP flags and averaging around 4k captain XP for every win. I knew keeping these ships would work out

[Renegade334]

Well...

- Will probably have that free Indianapolis by Friday, since that's when the 21st task comes live and you only need to complete 21 of them to unlock the ship. Just two weeks before going into hibernation...I guess it's a nice going-away (temporarily) present.

- Generated more FXP and got the Seattle thanks to the 4th of July event's price reduction. Won't play it yet, though: I'm a bit out of patience with 152mm (on the other hand, my recently-repurchased Fiji did hand me a couple of good matches) and I'm too busy grinding $ for my just-unlocked Akizuki.

- I suppose the Indianapolis missions are to blame for this, but I've seen a surge in DD numbers this past couple of days...and my Atlanta is practically bursting with joy at the news. Seriously, this ship is the ultimate DD hunter, when it is not being -itself- hunted down by fellow cruisers. The ability to rob a destroyer of 30% of its HP with each salvo is like unto an epiphany handed down by the heavens themselves, followed by catharsis and completed with exaltation. Today, I practically averaged two DD kills per match...and then some. Those rewards make it worth developing tachycardia, merely moving around the map with this little glass cannon (this ship will have you on your toes all the time; it ain't like a BB where you can just sit back and relax a bit, knowing you can absorb or bounce enemy shells coming at you).

- Update 7.7 will receive a UI update that will mark, on your minimap, the predicted impact point of your shells, which in turn will allow you to blind-fire at unspotted targets (which would be fantastic, when visually hampered by typhoons and smoke).

[Psyco Diver]

I'm thinking of buying back Fuso, Bayern and QE. I really liked all of the T6 BBs and did pretty well with them, BUT that would ruin my bank account because I'm saving to buy back my Iowa and buy all her upgrades. Tough decision, the T6 BBs are more fun BUT I really want to give the Iowa another run

[Renegade334]

Originally Posted by Psyco Diver

I'm thinking of buying back Fuso, Bayern and QE. I really liked all of the T6 BBs and did pretty well with them, BUT that would ruin my bank account because I'm saving to buy back my Iowa and buy all her upgrades. Tough decision, the T6 BBs are more fun BUT I really want to give the Iowa another run

Bank woes, too?

I have pretty much got all the ships I wanted back (though I recently experienced a little longing for the Aoba and Myoko) in my port, but:
- I got myself an Akizuki and expended the last of my FXP to unlock all of its modules. So now I have to get 4M credits in various upgrades, plus all of the T8 mods.
- Using the 200% boost, I managed to unlock the Minotaur. I need 9M (if I sell my Neptune, it'd roughly cover 55% of the 20M price tag), plus all of the T10 mods.
- Some of my other ships are still waiting to get the upgrades I promised them (Hipper hull B, etc).
- Getting the Seattle and Akizuki pretty much wiped out my bank account. I don't even have enough ATM to get Akizuki hull B. :-/

Problem is, I'm ~11 days away from the end of my premium time and, now that I've got my Indianapolis, I'm practically in no mood to keep grinding. I'll try to get more of the American crates while they last, but I feel too burnt out to go on another credit-printing bonanza.

[Psyco Diver]

I finished my Amagi captain grind (only got to 18 points) although I'm not sure how to spend the captain points, I currently have priority target, EM, AR, BoS, and CE. I was thinking of sinking there points into BFT and AFT cause I had a Kaga the other day with a hard on for me

[Psyco Diver]

Eh I went ahead and did it, I rebought the Iowa, after buying all the upgrades I'm down to 6 million silver and I still have to buy the modules. I think I may throw down some money for gold and respec the captain I have for her, I put my John Doe captain in her which is 14 points although I could sub my NC captain which has 16 points or my 18 point Colorado captain

Now I open every USN BB from the South Carolina to the Iowa